Best Smaller Museums in Paris

These Recommended Art Museums Enrich a Luxury Vacation in France

Jul 12, 2007

The Kiss by Rodin, at the Rodin Museum, Jennifer Miner

Paris has an abundance of famous art museums, whose collections span the centuries. Travel plans including the best smaller museums may consider these recommended ones.

A vacation in Paris, France is unlike a trip anywhere else in the world. The beauty of the French city has to be seen to be believed, and the luxury travel highlights never stop. From the Eiffel Tower to the Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris is a beacon of world-famous tourist sights. There are also more of the best museums in the world per square mile in Paris, than nearly anywhere else in the world. Paris is for lovers, as the old saying goes. Even more so, Paris is for Medieval and Renaissance art history lovers. The best and biggest art museums in Paris are hugely popular tourist draws, and rightly so, but many of the smaller museums here are tops in their areas of specialization as well. Should vacation travel plans permit, a visit to to these recommended smaller art museums would enrich a visitor's perspective of Paris.

Recommended smaller art museums in Paris, France:

The Musee Rodin - Auguste Rodin was fortunate to be recognized as a master in his own time; France let him live in this mansion for free, in exchange for endowing Paris with the sculptures he created while there. The result is a wonderful museum, almost comically filled to the brim with masterpiece after masterpiece. The gardens are even better, with Rodin's famous, classic bronze and marble statues placed carefully throughout a bucolic setting.
Cluny - The Cluny is shorthand for the Musee du Moyen Age, and is part of a larger structure. While the Middle Ages are represented in the museum, the Thermes et Hotel de Cluny - ancient Roman bath ruins and 16th century abbot residences - together make for a very interesting tourist visit. The top draws at the Cluny are surely the six Lady with the Unicorn tapestries on the first floor. Medieval art abounds throughout the Musee du Moyen Age and Hotel de Cluny; the original architecture, though restored, is true to its time.
Musee Picasso - The Dada movement started in Paris, and the Picasso Museum has examples of Picasso's contributions to that art form. With several thousand of his works here, however, the Picasso Museum is not confined to one art form - just as the artist himself was not. It's a small museum, in a renovated 17th-century hotel. Despite its size, this is the largest, most well-rounded, and best collection of Pablo Picasso's art in the world.
Musee de l'Orangerie - This remarkable little museum is at the west end of the Tuileries gardens. Formerly an orange tree grove, the Orangerie today is home to many of the best and well-known Impressionist paintings. Monet's Water Lily series are enduringly popular, as are his garden at Giverney paintings. Besides Monet, these are works of art by Renoir, Matisse, Cezanne and more, but Paris tourists really plan to come for the Water Lily paintings.
Musee du Petit Palais - Located in the upscale 8th arrondissement, the Petit Palais is fittingly filled, chockablock, with a multitude of glorious works. The museum is very eclectic in style, as the collection contains everything from ancient artifacts to 20th century art. The Renaissance art at the Petit Palais museum is especially worth a look. The garden within the walls of the museum is peaceful and beautiful. It's one of the best rest spots a tourist can plan to take. Now, this art museum has many temporary exhibits; the Petit Palais can look a bit different from one visit to the next.

These are five recommended small art museums, but there are many, many other museums in Paris, each best in their own right. Luxury travel plans involve more than only museum tours, of course; another luxury vacation in Paris may be needed to truly appreciate all the art this city of lights has to offer! Oh mais, oui.

Related, on Suite 101:

The Two Best Museums in Florence

Recommended Smaller Museums in Florence

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